How Can I Prevent Physical Illnesses at My Workplace?

The coronavirus outbreak has caused many changes to how we work. For example, employers are now considering options for remote learning and keeping safe when working with others. As an employer, you are under a legal requirement to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of your employees. In response to the pandemic, there are some basic workplace measures you can introduce in your business. These should help reduce the risk posed by the coronavirus pandemic, keep people at work safe and contribute to overall public health. This article will explain what extra measures you should and could have in place.

Consulting With Staff

It is likely that the coronavirus outbreak has forced you to make some difficult changes to your business. Such changes involve how and where your staff work. So, it is important to consult with your staff about proposed changes. You should also consult with their representatives and ask them if they have an agreement in place requiring you to carry out a formal consultation.

Consulting with your staff means that you:

• ask what their opinions are on potential changes;
• listen to what they suggest and consider their ideas; and
• attempt to make an agreement with them on any changes.

When consulting with the staff, you might cover the following:

• what you are doing in terms of reviewing and managing their health and safety. This includes the requirement that you share your risk assessments with them;
• how the workplace can be made safer; and
• any flexible working arrangements.

Updating Your Risk Assessment

As an employer, you should carry out risk assessments as part of your legal duty of care toward your employees’ health, safety, and well-being. Likewise, you should conduct a detailed risk assessment specifically for the coronavirus pandemic. Importantly, be sure to follow relevant public health regulations and guidelines.

When carrying out a risk assessment for the coronavirus outbreak, you should also consider groups of people at higher risk. Those who are vulnerable include:

• staff who are already considered clinically highly vulnerable;
• staff who are immunosuppressed; and 
• pregnant women.

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Keeping the Workplace Clean and Ventilated

Keeping the workplace clean and ventilated helps control the risk posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, you should ensure the regular cleaning of surfaces in your workplace. Likewise, pay close attention to common areas or those in contact with multiple people, like bathroom doors or your kitchenette.

You should also encourage your staff to wash their hands or sanitise them regularly and can do this by:

• using signage to remind staff about good hygiene;
• providing more handwashing facilities if your risk assessment reveals a need for these; 
• ensuring hand sanitisers are present where there are no handwashing facilities; and
• ensuring handwashing facilities are correctly equipped, such as having enough soap and paper towels.

Face Coverings and Social Distancing

Additionally, you may require your staff to wear face coverings or masks whilst at work. This will depend upon what the current advice is from the government.

Further, to reduce the spread of coronavirus, people have been practising social distancing. As an employer, you should consider this option where possible. Where it is not, you should think about other changes to prevent your staff from having close contact. For example, this could include:

• placing screens or barriers in the workplace to separate your workers;
• asking your staff to work side by side rather than facing each other;
• using fixed teams or partnering to ensure that the same staff are working together rather than mixing widely; and
• allowing employees to work from home.

Vaccination Policy

While vaccinations against the coronavirus pandemic are not a requirement, you may want to think about policies to implement as an employer. For example, you may require that employees carrying out particular roles are vaccinated.

Key Takeaways

As an employer, you must consider the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on your employees’ in terms of their health, safety and wellbeing. Likewise, not only is it vital to follow government guidelines, but you might consider introducing workplace measures to keep your staff safe. For example, you must do a risk assessment specifically for the coronavirus pandemic. You may also want to create a vaccination policy for your workplace or introduce home working for your staff to encourage social distancing.

If you need help introducing workplace measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic in England and Wales, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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